Sophfronia Scott who lives in Sandy Hook, Connecticut has given us a great gift in talking about forgiveness. This is a must read!

An excerpt:

Forgiveness is not about having the Charleston shooting make sense. It’s about refusing to allow it to damage our lives more than it already has.
When Nadine Collier made her statement about the loss of her mother, I
heard a strong woman recognizing the path she must now walk. She
released Dylann Roof to walk his own path so he would not continue to
tread on hers.

I also don’t agree with Ms. Gay’s statement, “Black people forgive
because we need to survive.” Forgiveness is too difficult. Why would we
cross that bridge, tax our hearts, for the constricted, miniscule, poor
result of “survival”? It is too little recompense for such arduous work.

Besides, as Andy Andrews observes in his book, The Traveler’s Gift, we aren’t meant to scratch at the ground like chickens trying to survive. We are meant to soar like eagles. We are meant to have life and to have it abundantly.

[...]

The shootings in Sandy Hook and now Charleston are grim reminders that
we are far from it, but not forgiving will take us even further away. We
would remain stuck. We would remain traumatized, whether we realize it
or not. Unless we choose to be the light in the world, as Ms. Collier
and others like her have done, we succumb to the darkness. When we don’t
forgive, the victim count grows, and can grow exponentially. Adam Lanza
took twenty-seven. Dylann Roof took nine. They don’t get to take any more. That’s why forgiveness matters.